The JSE advanced in noon trade on Friday in a quiet session, but blue-chip retail group Edcon fell sharply on concerns that a takeover bid by Bain Capital might fall through. At noon, the all-share index was up 0,42%. Resources gained 0,33%, while the platinum and gold mining indices added 1,12% and 1,20% respectively.
The African National Congress’s housing projects in Tshwane are ”radical and racially driven” and compromise the residents’ quality of life for political purposes, the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) said on Friday. FF+ councillor Conrad Beyers said a report showed the housing projects would target parks in Pretoria and Centurion.
Kenya’s football federation is once again facing the threat of suspension by world governing body Fifa over renewed allegations of political interference by the country’s government. Kenya was banned from all international competitions last October for breaching international agreements and for protracted problems in its troubled federation.
Forget Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma’s battle over the presidency. The ANC’s December national congress will be dominated by a struggle over the party’s national executive committee (NEC) — its highest decision-making body between conferences. The NEC will undergo its most extensive leadership overhaul since 1994 at this congress.
Moroccan police set up road blocks and barricades on Thursday around the Casablanca district in bid to find accomplices of three suicide bombers who blew themselves up this week. Two men were arrested, including one who entered a house and threatened to blow himself up if he was not given food, a police source said.
SABMiller said on Thursday that its financial performance was in line with management’s expectations as good revenue growth was partially offset by higher input costs and increased investment across the business. The group said in a trading update ahead of the release of its full year financial results on May 17, that for the year to end March it recorded 23% growth in lager volumes.
A pillar of the United States media establishment took a knock on Wednesday with an admission of plagiarism in a video essay attributed to the CBS anchor Katie Couric. Couric’s producer was sacked and her network obliged to apologise for the incident which occurred in a commentary called Katie’s Notebook.
The digital divide just got much deeper. This disruptive update comes from a recent conference in Texas that underlined how fast the information environment is changing abroad. For a start, and similar to the way TV became the killer attraction for audiences in the old media world, video is now conquering the web where there is a critical mass of broadband users.
The African National Congress (ANC) in the Free State is stable and united, provincial party leader Ace Magashule said on Wednesday in reaction to questions about party leadership battles and ”factions” within the ANC at regional level in the province. ”The ANC is stable and united at all levels,” Magashule said at an ANC media breakfast.
France’s right-wing presidential front-runner Nicolas Sarkozy was forced on Wednesday to deny a report that he had agreed to shield President Jacques Chirac from a corruption probe in exchange for his backing. ”It’s grotesque, it’s hurtful and it’s untrue,” Sarkozy said of the report in Le Canard Enchaine satirical weekly.